LITTLE PAXTON

[Transcribed and edited information from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868]

"LITTLE PAXTON, a parish in the hundred of Toseland, county Huntingdon, 2
miles north of St. Neot's, its post town. The village, which is of small
extent, is situated on the Great North road and on the river Ouse. There
are a flour-mill and extensive paper-mills, giving employment to the chief
portion of the inhabitants. The soil consists of clay and gravel, and the
surface is level. The tithes were commuted for land under an Enclosure Act
in 1812. The living is a curacy annexed to the vicarage * of Great Paxton,
in the diocese of Ely. The church, dedicated to St. James, has a square
tower. The parochial charities produce about £36 per annum, realised from
town lands. There is an endowed free school. Paxton Hall and Paxton Place
are the principal residences.

The full 1841 Census of Little Paxton Parish is available as fiche set C108.

The full 1851 Census of Little Paxton Parish is available as fiche set C58.

The full 1891 Census of Little Paxton Parish is available as fiche set C13.

A surname index of the 1881 Census of the St. Neots Registration District, in which Little
Paxton was enumerated (RG11/161, Folios 84a - 88b and 98a -99a), and which took place on
3rd April 1881, is available, as fiche set D5.

The church of St. James consists of a chancel, nave, south aisle, west tower and modern
north porch. The walls are of pebble rubble mixed with ironstone, and with stone dressings.
The angle-quorms of the belfry are chiefly of ironstone. The roofs are covered with slates and tiles.

The church is not mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, but a stone church was standing
here towards the end of the 12th century, of which considerable parts of the chancel walls
remain, together with the reset south door of the church. The chancel arch has been rebuilt
at a later date, and new windows were inserted in the chancel during the 14th century. About
1400, the tower was built and the south aisle, with its arcade, about 1500.

The north wall is said to have been knocked down during the civil wars of 1642 - 1646, but
was rebuilt and much modified in 1849 when the church was completely restored. At the same
time that this restoration work was being undertaken, the arcade was rebuilt, the south
aisle much modernised, and the south porch pulled down. The present north porch was built
a few years later. The chancel was restored in 1890.

The
Huntingdonshire Marriage Indexes
include marriages from this parish. These are, at present, issued in alphabetical listings
in series: 1601-1700, and 1701-1754, and are available from the
Huntingdonshire FHS.